The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1887-01-08
something to awaken the dormant pos
sibilities of power, use and beauty.

IL 10 I'LL pUSSlUlo W loll uOW 6dTly Ill
the life of child this devotional spirit
may be awakened, earlier, 1 believe,
than we are won't to think. Hence,
the mistake Of keeping the child from
church attendance, until that age when
he is able to comprehend the sermon
from an intellectual standpoint. Long
before he can appreciate the argument
of discourse, or weigh the value of its
lesson, his heart may be touched by the
devotional spirit of the hour, and his
whole nature subdued and made rever-
entail through the single thought and
sentiment that pervades the place.
And when we consider the further
argument, "the force of early habits, I"
it would seem that the parent only dis
charged his whole religious duty to his
child as he led him on from the quiet
talks by the Preside to place in the
church home.
AT this point we are met with the
protest, 81 do not want to urge my
child to go to church. 1t may cause
him to dislike the church in later years
If do" And then, perhaps, we are
told of some one who was compelled to
go when child, but he so rebelIed
against the discipline that when he
left the parental roof he did not enter a
church for years afterward. The story
is an old one; and in many instances, a
truthful one, but in the majority Of
Instances, upon close inquiry, we will
learn that there were perhaps three
services day, and that painfully
puritanical way of occupying the time
between services, against which any
natural person, child or adult, would
rebel.
But l am constantly surprised that
so many of these same dissenters from
church going are finding happy homes
in the liberal churches. The habit
formed in early life could not be wholly
overcome, and after the freedom of
few years from all church asso-
Citations, arge numbers of such have
entered into our communion, and be-
come the most earnest and Jealous of
our number.
Then, too, the logic of the argu-
ment is weak. You compel your child
to attend school against his innate in
clination. You compel him, so far as
you are able, to avoid certai evil asso-
ciates and associations; you compel
him to be honest, to speak the truth.
Negatively you do your duty. The
"Thou shalt not'' seems easily spoken,
But if the "shalt not" is justly en-
forced upon the child in one direction,
by the exercise Of your authority, why
may not the same authority be exer-
cised in behalf of the "thou shalt?"
Again, we are met with the plea, II
do not want to choose in this matter of
religion for my child. 1 made my own
choice; he must do the same" Guilt
waiting the religious nature of a child
and identifying with sect, are widely
different things, and if the religious
natureis awakened there is no danger
that the child will choose for him.
self in time. In these days the danger
is that the children will grow up in
different to the subject of religion
itself, rather than become sectarian de-
voices. If, too, the parent finds a GER
tain expression of faith helpful; if he
finds in it an incentive to honest, trust
full, noble living, he is taking but little
risk in placing his child under the same
influences, and if he does not find that
inspiration there, then he has no moral
right there himself. Before the child
can reason in theology, he can be
taught the beauty of holiness, to love
the good, to turn from evil. Before he
can comprehend the difference between
the unity and trinity Of the Godhead,
he can be taught Of the love and justice
of the one who governs all. He can feel
the sentiment of devotion before he can
reason upon it; he can worship before
he can analayze the devotional spirit
within that calls his thoughts upward.
If the parent cannot decide for the
child in these matters while yet the
child is incompetent to act for himself,
his moral right to its guardianship is
questionable.
OF all the duties of a parent to his
child, none are so emphatically his as
this duty of religious guidance; there are
none that he may not slight or neglect
with less danger to the deep peace and
prosperity of his child. No power or
potentate, no individual or organized
body, can fill the parents place in this
respect. Many influences lend their
assistance, but for the best results the
parent must be the first teacher, and
ever the example in the way of truth
and Goodness.
THE DECREE OF CALvINIsM.